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President Mugabe

Nyore Madzianike Herald Reporter
PRESIDENT Mugabe yesterday officially commissioned the Dedication Tower as a national monument during the graduation of 593 police officers at Morris Depot in Harare.

Speaking during the commissioning, President Mugabe said he was touched by the Zimbabwe Republic Police’s initiative.

Vice Presidents Emmerson Mnangagwa and Phelekezela Mphoko and senior Government officials witnessed the ceremony.

The Dedication Tower replaces the James Blatherwick monument that was erected by the British South Africa Company (BSAC) following Blatherwick’s death in 1921.

“I feel tongue-tied and my heart is moved by this idea translated and transformed into concrete substance depicting a number of, shall I say, historical phenomena.

“Yes, first and foremost, a dedication to our struggle and speaks of our struggle. It goes much further since our history also was dedicated on the struggles that our ancestors had waged for our liberation.

“So it speaks of our overall history, the history of our struggle put together, that of our ancestors and that of our own,” he said.

President Mugabe also said the monument also carries symbols that show that the struggle is not yet over.

He said there was need to shift the struggle from a military one into a social and economic one.

The President also thanked the police for the monument saying it was an initiative which the Government supported.

“It has that bird, the Zimbabwe Bird. It is meant to symbolically fly into the future carrying that history into the future and there it assures us that this is not the stop.

“There is no full-stop to that struggle.

“It may take in the future, other forms: the struggle to transform what is or was a military one into that which in the future perhaps will be social and economic.

“I want to thank you and the whole of the organisation, our police, for having conceived this,” he said.

National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe executive director Dr Godfrey Mahachi said the Dedication Tower was declared a national monument through Statutory Instrument No.4 of 2017 by the Ministry of Rural Development, Promotion and Preservation of National Heritage.

Speaking during the inspection of the Dedication Tower last week, Minister Abednico Ncube said the tower stands as a motivational tool to police for safeguarding the country’s heritage and hard-won independence.